Russia, Belarus plan to set up common migration space

Sergey Lavrov noted that border zones on the Russian-Belarusian border "are not aimed to limit our citizens’ freedom of movement"

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MOSCOW, June 5. /TASS/. Moscow and Minsk have drawn up a plan on setting up a common migration space, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a press conference following his talks with Belarusian top diplomat Vladimir Makei.

"We have agreed on a three-year action plan concerning the setup of a common migration space, which will be submitted for approval to the Council of Ministers of the Union State," Lavrov said.

When speaking of the plan to establish border zones on the Russian-Belarusian border, Lavrov stressed that "these zones are not aimed to limit our citizens’ freedom of movement." "They (the border zones) mean only one thing - since there is no real border, then all foreign citizens who need visas to travel to Russia, will have to somehow record their border crossing," the Russian top diplomat explained.

"I am sure that these issues will be solved without any bureaucratic barriers," Lavrov added. "Experts will find a solution," he said.

"There is no doubt that we will solve all these issues, including those related to the border crossing in the international sectors of our airports," the Russian foreign minister pointed out. "At present, there are no additional difficulties for the citizens of our two countries," he noted. "As for foreigners, they have been facing some issues, since they mostly travel by planes, but we (Russia and Belarus) do not have a common visa policy yet, so they have to go throug international border crossing checkpoints," Lavrov concluded.